Milei in Neuquén to tour Vaca Muerta, meet businessmen

President Javier Milei travelled to the province of Neuquén on Thursday, the heart of energy production in Argentina, where he was received by Governor Rolando Figueroa.

Figueroa declared the visiting head of state to be an illustrious resident and gave him a local gaucho knife as a welcome present.

In another sign of the libertarian leader’s diplomatic controversies, Milei later crossed over to Chile for the first time since taking office – though he did not meet with the nation’s leftist head of state Gabriel Boric.

At around 9am Milei’s presidential delegation landed at Juan Domingo Perón International Airport to board a helicopter together with Figueroa, flying out to the Vaca Muerta shale formation to survey them from the air. 

Vaca Muerta, a huge sweep of western Patagonian wilderness that traverses two provinces, sits on the world's second largest reserve of shale gas and its fourth largest oil reserves.

After flying over Vaca Muerta in the direction of Loma Campana, President Milei visited the head offices of the YPF state energy firm located in the northern access route of the provincial capital.

He later crossed over to Chile in the afternoon for an event commemorating Gas Andes.

Figueroa, one of 18 governors to sign Milei’s much-heralded ‘Pact of May’ in Tucumán last month, hailed the arrival of the La Libertad Avanza leader on social media.

“Working for the progress of Neuquén and the homeland” was the title of his message. “We received in Neuquén President Javier Milei. It is always an honour to have a head of state in our province. Our commitment is to work through dialogue for the progress of the country,” it read.

Milei’s tour of the oilfields follows the announcement of the mega- investment by YPF and Malaysia’s Petronas for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant to be constructed in Sierra Grande, Río Negro, a key unit for fossil fuel production in the basin.

In the final stage of his brief southern tour, Milei surveyed the installations of the gas plant at Tratayén before departing for the Chilean capital of Santiago where he was due to land at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport at 2.15pm, according to presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni, with Argentine Ambassador to Chile Jorge Faurie awaiting his delegation.

Later that afternoon Milei attended an event to commemorate the first TCF (Trillion Cubic Feet) of natural gas transported from Argentina to Chile via gas pipeline where the Argentine president delivered a brief speech at around 7.40pm. 

Despite efforts in that direction with conflicting reports, Boric did not show up at the event due to other commitments, thus obliging postponement of the first meeting between the two heads of state.

– TIMES/NA/PERFIL